Việt Kiều
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The Vietnamese people (, ) or the Kinh people (), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
n
ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
native to modern-day
northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam or '' Tonkin'' () is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sôn ...
and
southern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between ...
who speak
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...
, the most widely spoken
Austroasiatic language The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority popu ...
. Vietnamese Kinh people account for 85.32% of the population of
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
in the 2019 census, and are officially designated and recognized as the ''Kinh'' people () to distinguish them from the other
minority group The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...
s residing in the country such as the
Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ...
,
Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script * Cham Albani ...
, or Mường. The Vietnamese are one of the four main groups of Vietic speakers in Vietnam, the others being the Mường, Thổ, and Chứt people. Diasporic descendants of the Vietnamese in China, known as the
Gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands ...
people, are one of 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, residing in the
Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
Zhuang Autonomous Region.


Terminology

According to Churchman (2010), all endonyms and exonyms referring to the Vietnamese such as ''Việt'' (related to ancient Chinese geographical imagination), ''Kinh'' (related to medieval administrative designation), or ''Keeu'' and ''Kæw'' (derived from Jiāo 交, ancient Chinese toponym for Northern Vietnam,
Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
''*kraw'') by Kra-Dai speaking peoples, are related to political structures or have common origins in ancient Chinese geographical imagination. Most of the time, the Austroasiatic-speaking ancestors of the modern Kinh under one single ruler might have assumed for themselves a similar or identical social self-designation inherent in the modern Vietnamese first-person pronoun ''ta'' (us, we, I) to differentiate themselves with other groups. In the older colloquial usage, ''ta'' corresponded to "ours" as opposed to "theirs", and during colonial time they were "''nước ta''" (our country) and "''tiếng ta''" (our language) in contrast to "''nước tây''" (western countries) and "''tiếng tây''" (western languages).


Việt

The term "" (Yue) () in
Early Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The S ...
was first written using the
logograph In a written language, a logogram (from Ancient Greek 'word', and 'that which is drawn or written'), also logograph or lexigraph, is a written character that represents a semantic component of a language, such as a word or morpheme. Chines ...
"戉" for an axe (a homophone), in
oracle bone Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron which were used in pyromancya form of divinationduring the Late Shang period () in ancient China. '' Scapulimancy'' is the specific term if ox scapulae were used for the divination, ''p ...
and bronze inscriptions of the late
Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...
( BC), and later as "越". At that time it referred to a people or chieftain to the northwest of the Shang.Theobald, Ulrich (2018
"Shang Dynasty – Political History"
in ''ChinaKnowledge.de – An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art''. quote: "Enemies of the Shang state were called fang 方 "regions", like the Tufang 土方, which roamed the northern region of Shanxi, the Guifang 鬼方 and Gongfang 𢀛方 in the northwest, the Qiangfang 羌方, Suifang 繐方, Yuefang 戉方, Xuanfang 亘方 and Zhoufang 周方 in the west, as well as the Yifang 夷方 and Renfang 人方 in the southeast."
In the early 8th century BC, a tribe on the middle
Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
were called the Yangyue, which was later used to describe peoples living further south. Between the 7th and 4th centuries BC, Yue/Việt referred to the
State of Yue Yue (), also known as Yuyue ( or ), was a state in ancient China which existed during the first millennium BC the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of China's Zhou dynasty in the modern provinces of Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangsu ...
in the lower Yangtze basin and its people. From the 3rd century BC, the term was used for the non-Chinese populations of south and southwest China and northern Vietnam, with particular ethnic groups called
Minyue Minyue (; Pinyin: ''Mǐnyuè, Mínyuè'') was an ancient kingdom in what is now the Fujian province in southern China. It was a contemporary of the Han dynasty, and was later annexed by the Han empire as the Southward expansion of the Han dynas ...
, Ouyue (Vietnamese:
Âu Việt The Âu Việt or Ouyue () were an ancient conglomeration of Baiyue tribes living in what is today the mountainous regions of northernmost Vietnam, western Guangdong, and northern Guangxi, China, since at least the third century BCE. They were b ...
), Luoyue (Vietnamese:
Lạc Việt The Lạc Việt or Luoyue ( or ; ← Middle Chinese: *''lɑk̚-ɦʉɐt̚'' ← Old Chinese *''râk-wat'') were an ancient conglomeration of peoples inhabiting northern Vietnam, particularly the ancient Red River Delta, from approximately 700 B ...
), etc., collectively called the
Baiyue The Baiyue, Hundred Yue, or simply Yue, were various ethnic groups who inhabited the regions of southern China and northern Vietnam during the 1st millennium BC and 1st millennium AD. They were known for their short hair, body tattoos, fine swo ...
(Bách Việt, ; ). The term Baiyue/Bách Việt first appeared in the book ''
Lüshi Chunqiu The ''Lüshi Chunqiu'' (), also known in English as ''Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals'', is an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239BC under the patronage of late pre-imperial Qin Chancellor Lü Buwei. In the evaluati ...
'' compiled around 239 BC. By the 17th and 18th centuries AD, educated Vietnamese referred to themselves as ''người Việt'' 𠊛越 (Viet people) or ''người Nam'' 𠊛南 (southern people).


Kinh

Beginning in the 10th and 11th centuries, a strand of Viet-Muong (northern Vietic language), with influence from a hypothetical Chinese dialect in northern Vietnam, dubbed as Annamese Middle Chinese, evolved into what is now the
Vietnamese language Vietnamese () is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language Speech, spoken primarily in Vietnam where it is the official language. It belongs to the Vietic languages, Vietic subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Vietnamese is s ...
. Its speakers called themselves the "Kinh" people, meaning people of the "metropolitan" centered around the
Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
with
Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
as its capital. Historic and modern chữ Nôm scripture classically uses the Han character '京', pronounced "Jīng" in Mandarin, and "Kinh" with Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation. Other variants of Proto-Viet-Muong were driven from the lowlands by the Kinh and were called ''Trại'' (寨 Mandarin: ''Zhài''), or "outpost" people", by the 13th century. These became the modern Mường people. According to Victor Lieberman, ''người Kinh'' (
Chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...
: 𠊛京) may be a colonial-era term for Vietnamese speakers inserted anachronistically into translations of pre-colonial documents, but literature on 18th century ethnic formation is lacking.


History


Origins and pre-history

According to the Vietnamese legend, ''The Tale of the Hồng Bàng Clan'' (''Hồng Bàng'' thị truyện), written in the 15th century, the first Vietnamese were descended from the
dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...
lord Lạc Long Quân and the
fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...
Âu Cơ. They married and had one hundred eggs, from which hatched one hundred children. Their eldest son ruled as the
Hùng king Hùng king (2879 BC – 258 BC; Chữ Hán: 雄王; (雄王) or ''vua Hùng'' (𤤰雄); ''Vương'' means "king" and ''vua'' means "monarch; could mean emperor or king") is the title given to the ancient Vietnamese rulers of the Hồng Bàng dy ...
. The Hùng kings were claimed to be descended from the mythical figure Shen Nong. The earliest reference of the proto-Vietnamese in Chinese annals was the ''Lạc'' (Chinese: Luo), ''
Lạc Việt The Lạc Việt or Luoyue ( or ; ← Middle Chinese: *''lɑk̚-ɦʉɐt̚'' ← Old Chinese *''râk-wat'') were an ancient conglomeration of peoples inhabiting northern Vietnam, particularly the ancient Red River Delta, from approximately 700 B ...
'', or the Dongsonian, an ancient tribal confederacy of perhaps polyglot
Austroasiatic The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority popu ...
and Kra-Dai speakers who occupied the
Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
in northern Vietnam. One hypothesis suggests that the forerunners of the ethnic Kinh descend from a
subset In mathematics, a Set (mathematics), set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all Element (mathematics), elements of ''A'' are also elements of ''B''; ''B'' is then a superset of ''A''. It is possible for ''A'' and ''B'' to be equal; if they a ...
of
proto-Austroasiatic Proto-Austroasiatic is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austroasiatic languages. Proto-Mon–Khmer (i.e., all Austroasiatic branches except for Munda) has been reconstructed in Harry L. Shorto's ''Mon–Khmer Comparative Dictionary'', while a ...
people in southern China, either around
Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
,
Lingnan Lingnan (; ) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern China, Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong & Macau and Northern Vietnam. Background The ar ...
, or the
Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
, as well as mainland
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
. These proto-Austroasiatics also diverged into Monic speakers, who settled further to the west, and the Khmeric speakers, who migrated further south. The Munda of northeastern India were another subset of proto-Austroasiatics who likely diverged earlier than the aforementioned groups, given the linguistic distance in basic vocabulary of the languages. Most archaeologists, linguists, and other specialists, such as Sinologists and crop experts, believe that they arrived no later than 2000 BC, bringing with them the practice of riverine agriculture and in particular, the cultivation of wet rice.Blench, Roger. 2018
Waterworld: lexical evidence for aquatic subsistence strategies in Austroasiatic
In ''Papers from the Seventh International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics'', 174–193. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society Special Publication No. 3. University of Hawaii Press.
Blench, Roger. 2017.
Waterworld: lexical evidence for aquatic subsistence strategies in Austroasiatic
'. Presented at ICAAL 7, Kiel, Germany.
Sidwell, Paul. 2015b. ''Phylogeny, innovations, and correlations in the prehistory of Austroasiatic''. Paper presented at the workshop ''Integrating inferences about our past: new findings and current issues in the peopling of the Pacific and South East Asia'', 22–23 June 2015, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany. Some linguists, such as James Chamberlain and Joachim Schliesinger, have suggested that Vietic-speaking people migrated northwards from the North Central Region of Vietnam to the
Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
, which had originally been inhabited by Tai
speakers Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Speaker (song), "Speaker" ( ...
. However, Michael Churchman found no records of population shifts in
Jiaozhi Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or , was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Commandery (; , ch ...
(centered around the Red River Delta) in Chinese sources, indicating that a fairly stable population of Austroasiatic speakers, ancestral to modern Vietnamese, inhabited the delta during the Han- Tang periods. Others have proposed that tribes in northern Vietnam and southern China did not have any kind of defined ethnic boundary and could not be described as "Vietnamese" (Kinh) in any satisfactory sense. Thus, attempts to identify ethnic groups in ancient Vietnam are problematic and often inaccurate. Another theory, based upon linguistic diversity, locates the most probable homeland of the Vietic languages in modern-day
Bolikhamsai Province Bolikhamsai (, ), formerly gallicized as Borikhamxay, is a province of Laos. Pakxan, Thaphabat, Pakkading, Borikhane, Viengthong, and Khamkeut are its districts and Pakxan is its capital city. The province is the site of the Nam Theun 2 Dam, ...
and Khammouane Province in Laos as well as in parts of Nghệ An Province and
Quảng Bình Province Quảng Bình was formerly a southern coastal Provinces of Vietnam, province in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Việt Nam, Vietnam. It borders Hà Tĩnh province, Hà Tĩnh to the north, Quảng Trị province, ...
in Vietnam. In the 1930s, clusters of Vietic-speaking communities discovered in the hills of eastern Laos were believed to be the earliest inhabitants of that region. But so far, many scholars link the origin of the
Vietic languages The Vietic languages are a branch of the Austroasiatic language family, spoken by the Vietic peoples in Laos and Vietnam. The branch was once referred to by the terms ''Việt–Mường'', ''Annamese–Muong'', and ''Vietnamuong''; the term ' ...
to
northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam or '' Tonkin'' () is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sôn ...
, around the Red River Delta.


Early history and Chinese rule

The Kinh Vietnamese have dual ancestry from Đông Sơn-related peoples and southern China, like Mường peoples. Đông Sơn-related peoples are believed to be genetically and craniometrically discontinuous from the previous Hoabinhian hunter-gatherers of northern Vietnam due to extensive admixture with East Asian populations. Another study, however, suggests some affinities between present Kinh Vietnamese and hunter-gatherers from the Con Co Ngua site in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam about 6.2 k cal BP, who were phenotypically closer to Late Pleistocene Southeast Asians and modern
Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands. Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian l ...
and
Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...
.Kinh Vietnamese also show affinities with Núi Nấp populations from Bronze Age Vietnam, cited in . who can be modeled as a mixture of Dushan-related (~65%) and northern East Asian-related (~35%) ancestry. The Đông Sơn culture was pioneered by the Lạc Việt peoples, who also founded the Văn Lang
chiefdom A chiefdom is a political organization of people representation (politics), represented or government, governed by a tribal chief, chief. Chiefdoms have been discussed, depending on their scope, as a stateless society, stateless, state (polity) ...
, ruled by the semi-mythical
Hùng king Hùng king (2879 BC – 258 BC; Chữ Hán: 雄王; (雄王) or ''vua Hùng'' (𤤰雄); ''Vương'' means "king" and ''vua'' means "monarch; could mean emperor or king") is the title given to the ancient Vietnamese rulers of the Hồng Bàng dy ...
s. To the south of the Dongsonians/Lạc Việt was the
Sa Huỳnh culture The Sa Huỳnh culture was a culture in what is now central and southern Vietnam that flourished between 1000 BC and 200 AD. Archaeological sites from the culture have been discovered from the Mekong Delta to Quảng Bình province in central ...
of the Austronesian Chamic people. Around 400–200 BC, the Lạc Việt interacted with the
Âu Việt The Âu Việt or Ouyue () were an ancient conglomeration of Baiyue tribes living in what is today the mountainous regions of northernmost Vietnam, western Guangdong, and northern Guangxi, China, since at least the third century BCE. They were b ...
, a splinter group of
Tai people Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thai, Isan, Tai Yai (Shan), Lao, Tai Ahom, ...
from southern China, and
Sinitic The Sinitic languages (), often synonymous with the Chinese languages, are a group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute a major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is frequently proposed that there is a primary split be ...
peoples from further north. According to a late-third- or early-fourth-century AD Chinese chronicle, Thục Phán, the leader of the Âu Việt, conquered Văn Lang and deposed the last
Hùng king Hùng king (2879 BC – 258 BC; Chữ Hán: 雄王; (雄王) or ''vua Hùng'' (𤤰雄); ''Vương'' means "king" and ''vua'' means "monarch; could mean emperor or king") is the title given to the ancient Vietnamese rulers of the Hồng Bàng dy ...
. Having submissions of Lạc lords, Thục Phán proclaimed himself King An Dương of
Âu Lạc Âu Lạc (chữ Hán: 甌貉 (Peripheral Records/Volume 1:6a): "王既併文郎國,改國號曰甌貉國。""The King then annexed the Văn Lang nation, changed the nation's name to Âu Lạc nation."/甌駱; (Volume 113): "且南方卑濕 ...
kingdom, uniting the Lạc Việt and Âu Việt tribes. In 179 BC,
Zhao Tuo Zhao Tuo (), rendered as Triệu Đà in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese, was a Qin dynasty Chinese general and first emperor of Nanyue. He participated in the conquest of the Baiyue peoples of Guangdong, Guangxi and Northern Vietnam. After ...
, a Chinese general who established the
Nanyue Nanyue ( zh, c=南越 or 南粵, p=Nányuè, cy=, j=Naam4 Jyut6, l=Southern Yue, , ), was an ancient kingdom founded in 204 BC by the Chinese general Zhao Tuo, whose family (known in Vietnamese as the Triệu dynasty) continued to rule until ...
state in modern-day southern China, annexed Âu Lạc, which initiated Sino-Vietic interaction that lasted for a millennium. In 111 BC, the
Han Empire The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
conquered Nanyue, which also brought northern Vietnam under Han rule. By the 7th century to 9th century AD, as the
Tang Empire The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and T ...
ruled over the region, historians such as
Henri Maspero Henri Paul Gaston Maspero (15 December 188317 March 1945) was a French sinologist and professor who contributed to a variety of topics relating to East Asia. Maspero is best known for his pioneering studies of Daoism. He was imprisoned by the Naz ...
proposed that Vietnamese-speaking people became separated from other Vietic groups such as the Mường and Chứt due to heavier Chinese influences on the Vietnamese. In the mid-9th century, local rebels aided by
Nanzhao Nanzhao ( zh, t=南詔, s=南诏, p=Nánzhào), also spelled Nanchao, , Yi language: ꂷꏂꌅ, ''Mashynzy'') was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southwestern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuri ...
almost ended Tang rule. The Tang reconquered the region in 866, causing half of the local rebels to flee into the mountains, marking the separation between the Mường and the Vietnamese. According to Jennifer Holmgren, the first six centuries of Chinese rule saw more Vietnamization of local Chinese than Sinicization of local Vietnamese. Compared to the first six centuries of Chinese rule when demographics were relatively stable, Chinese migration during the Tang period was of sufficient magnitude to cause basic changes to certain portions of Vietnamese society in northern Vietnam. Most of these Chinese migrants came as soldiers or merchants, took a wife from the indigenous population, and settled down. They were individuals that settled down in a nuclear family, causing the average household size to decrease. Despite the increase of Chinese migrants to Vietnam, it was still much more constrained compared to Chinese migration to Guangdong and Guangxi due to the structure of Vietnamese society, which limited the ability of Chinese rulers to register and tax the local population. Vietnamese society retained their language and heritage. Other peoples like the Muong, Tay, and Nung people fled Chinese control into the uplands, where Chinese registers could not reach them. Non-Chinese foreign migration was also significant in the south due to pressures elsewhere such as the expanding Cham kingdom. Around 10.5% of Kinh Vietnamese carry the Han Chinese O-M7
haplogroup A haplotype is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent, and a haplogroup (haploid from the , ''haploûs'', "onefold, simple" and ) is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a sing ...
, suggesting heavy assimilation of Chinese migrants in northern Vietnam. In 938, the Vietnamese leader
Ngô Quyền Ngô Quyền ( vi-hantu, 吳權) (April 17, 898 – February 14, 944), often referred to as Tiền Ngô Vương (前吳王; "First King of Ngô"), was a warlord who later became the founding king of the Ngô dynasty of Vietnam. He reigned fro ...
who was a native of
Thanh Hóa Thanh Hóa () is the capital of Thanh Hóa Province. The city is situated in the east of the province on the Ma River (Sông Mã), about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of capital Hanoi and 1560 kilometers (969 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh Cit ...
, led Vietnamese forces to defeat the Chinese armada at
Bạch Đằng River The Bạch Đằng River (, ), also called Bạch Đằng Giang (from ), ''white wisteria river'', is a river in northern Vietnam, located near Hạ Long Bay. It flows through Yên Hưng District of Quảng Ninh province and the district Th ...
. He proclaimed himself king over a polity that could be perceived as "Vietnamese".


Medieval and early modern period

Ngô Quyền Ngô Quyền ( vi-hantu, 吳權) (April 17, 898 – February 14, 944), often referred to as Tiền Ngô Vương (前吳王; "First King of Ngô"), was a warlord who later became the founding king of the Ngô dynasty of Vietnam. He reigned fro ...
died in 944 and his kingdom collapsed into chaos and disturbances between twelve warlords and chiefs. In 968, a leader named
Đinh Bộ Lĩnh Đinh Bộ Lĩnh (924–979; ), real name allegedly Đinh Hoàn ( 丁 桓), was the founding emperor of the short-lived Đinh dynasty of Vietnam, after declaring its independence from the Chinese Southern Han dynasty. He was a significant figur ...
united them and established the Đại Việt (Great Việt) kingdom. With assistance of powerful Buddhist monks, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh chose Hoa Lư in the southern edge of the
Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
as the capital instead of Tang-era
Đại La Đại La (), means ''the Citadel of the Great Dike'', or La Thành (羅城, means ''the Citadel of the Dike'') was an ancient fortified city in present-day Hanoi during the third Chinese domination of the 7th and 8th centuries, and again in the 11 ...
, adopted Chinese-style imperial titles, coinage, and ceremonies and tried to preserve the Chinese administrative framework. The independence of Đại Việt, according to Andrew Chittick, allows it "to develop its own distinctive political culture and ethnic consciousness". In 979, Emperor
Đinh Tiên Hoàng Dinh (丁) is a Vietnamese surname. In Vietnam, the surname is spelled Đinh or Đình, but the latter is very rare in Vietnamese. Notable people * Andy Dinh, Team SoloMid owner, player * Dan Dinh, ''League of Legends '' player, brother of Andy Di ...
was assassinated, and Queen
Dương Vân Nga Dương Thị Ngọc Vân (楊氏玉雲, 952 – 1000) courtesy name Vân Nga (雲娥) was the only empress dowager of the Đinh dynasty and afterwards empress of Lê Đại Hành, the first emperor of the Early Lê dynasty. When her husband Đ ...
married Dinh's general
Lê Hoàn Lê Hoàn (10 August 941 – 18 March 1005), posthumously title Lê Đại Hành, was the third ruler of Đại Việt kingdom, ruling from 981 to 1005, and founder of the Early Lê dynasty. He first served as the generalissimo commanding ...
and appointed him as Emperor. Disturbances in Đại Việt attracted attention from the neighbouring Chinese
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
and
Champa Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...
Kingdom, but they were defeated by Lê Hoàn. A Khmer inscription dated 987 records the arrival of Vietnamese merchants (Yuon) in
Angkor Angkor ( , 'capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura (; ),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-English Dictionary''. Bureau of Special Research in Modern Languages. The Catholic Uni ...
. Chinese writers Song Hao,
Fan Chengda Fan Chengda (, 1126–1193), courtesy name Zhineng (), was a Chinese geographer, poet, and politician. One of the best-known Chinese poets of the Song Dynasty, he served as a government official, and was an academic authority in geography, especiall ...
and Zhou Qufei all reported that the inhabitants of Đại Việt "tattooed their foreheads, crossed feet, black teeth, bare feet and blacken clothing". The early 11th-century
Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script * Cham Albani ...
inscription of Chiên Đàn,
My Son My or MY may refer to: Arts and entertainment * My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station * Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe * ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak * ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon Business * Marke ...
, erected by king of Champa Harivarman IV (r. 1074–1080), mentions that he had offered Khmer (Kmīra/Kmir) and Viet (Yvan) prisoners as slaves to various local gods and temples of the citadel of Tralauṅ Svon. Many Kinh Vietnamese also lived in Champa and were well-assimilated, like other Austroasiatic groups living in the state. Successive Vietnamese royal families from the Đinh, Early Lê, Lý, Trần and Hồ dynasties, who had ( Hoa)/Chinese ancestry, ruled the kingdom peacefully from 968 to 1407. Emperor
Lý Thái Tổ Lý Thái Tổ ( vi-hantu, , 8 March 974 – 31 March 1028), personal name Lý Công Uẩn, temple name Thái Tổ, was a founding emperor of Lý dynasty and the 6th ruler of Đại Việt; he reigned from 1009 to 1028. Early years Lý Công ...
(r. 1009–1028) relocated the Vietnamese capital from Hoa Lư to
Đại La Đại La (), means ''the Citadel of the Great Dike'', or La Thành (羅城, means ''the Citadel of the Dike'') was an ancient fortified city in present-day Hanoi during the third Chinese domination of the 7th and 8th centuries, and again in the 11 ...
, the center of the
Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in Northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". T ...
in 1010. They practiced elitist marriage alliances between clans and nobles in the country. Mahayana Buddhism became state religion, with Cham, Indian and Chinese cultures influencing Vietnamese music instruments, dance and religious worship. Confucianism also slowly gained attention and influence. The earliest surviving corpus and text in the
Vietnamese language Vietnamese () is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language Speech, spoken primarily in Vietnam where it is the official language. It belongs to the Vietic languages, Vietic subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Vietnamese is s ...
were dated to the early 12th century whilst surviving
chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...
script inscriptions were dated to the early 13th century, showcasing enormous influences of Chinese culture among the early Vietnamese elites. The Mongol
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
unsuccessfully invaded Đại Việt in the 1250s and 1280s, though they sacked Hanoi. The
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
of China conquered Đại Việt in 1406, brought the Vietnamese under Chinese rule for 20 years, before they were driven out by Vietnamese leader
Lê Lợi Lê Lợi (, chữ Hán: 黎利; 10 September 1385 – 5 October 1433), also known by his temple name as Lê Thái Tổ (黎太祖) and by his pre-imperial title Bình Định vương (平定王; "Prince of Pacification"), was a Vietnamese peopl ...
. The fourth grandson of Lê Lợi, Emperor
Lê Thánh Tông Lê Thánh Tông (黎聖宗; 25 August 1442 – 3 March 1497), personal name Lê Hạo, temple name Thánh Tông, courtesy name Tư Thành, was an emperor of Đại Việt, reigning from 1460 to 1497, the fifth and the longest-reigning empero ...
(r. 1460–1497), is considered one of the greatest monarchs in Vietnamese history. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, military, education, and fiscal reforms he instituted, and a cultural revolution that replaced the old traditional aristocracy with a generation of literati scholars. He also adopted Confucianism and transformed Đại Việt from a Southeast Asian style polity to a bureaucratic state that flourished. Thánh Tông's forces, armed with
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
weapons, overwhelmed the long-term rival
Champa Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...
in 1471 and launched an unsuccessful invasion against the Laotian and
Lan Na The Lan Na kingdom or the Kingdom of Lanna (, , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; , , ), also known as Lannathai, was an Indianized state centered in present-day Northern Thailand from the 13th to the 18th centuries. The cultural developmen ...
kingdoms in the 1480s.


16th century – Modern period

With the death of Thánh Tông in 1497, the Đại Việt kingdom swiftly declined. Extreme climate, failing crops, regionalism and factionism tore the Vietnamese apart. From 1533 to 1790s, four powerful Vietnamese families – Mạc, Lê, Trịnh and Nguyễn – each ruled their own domains. In the northern Vietnamese polity of Đàng Ngoài (outer realm), the Lê emperors barely sat on the throne while the Trịnh lords held power of the court. The Mạc controlled northeast Vietnam. The Nguyễn lords ruled the southern polity of Đàng Trong (inner realm). Thousands of ethnic Vietnamese migrated south and settled on the old Cham lands, with Cham inhabitants assimilating into the new Vietnamese state. Vietnamese also settled in the highlands of Vietnam and intermixed with the natives over centuries. European missionaries and traders from the sixteenth century brought new religion, ideas and crops to the Vietnamese (Annamese). By 1639, there were 82,500 Catholic converts throughout Vietnam. In 1651,
Alexandre de Rhodes Alexandre de Rhodes, SJ (; 15 March 1593 – 5 November 1660), also Đắc Lộ was an Avignonese Jesuit missionary and lexicographer who had a lasting impact on Christianity in Vietnam. He wrote the '' Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latin ...
published a 300-pages
catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...
in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and romanized-Vietnamese (''chữ Quốc Ngữ'') or the
Vietnamese alphabet The Vietnamese alphabet (, ) is the modern writing script for the Vietnamese language. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages like French language, French, originally developed by Francisco de Pina (1585–1625), a missionary from P ...
. Conflict among Vietnamese ended in 1802 as Emperor
Gia Long Gia Long (Chữ Hán, Chữ hán: 嘉隆) ( (''Hanoi, North''), (''Ho Chi Minh City, South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh (阮暎), was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynas ...
, who was aided by French mercenaries, defeated the Tay Son kingdoms and reunited Vietnam. By 1847, the Vietnamese state under Emperor
Thiệu Trị Thiệu Trị (, vi-hantu, wikt:紹, 紹wikt:治, 治, lit. "inheritance of prosperity"; 6 June 1807 – 4 November 1847), personal name Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông or Nguyễn Phúc Tuyền, was the third emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. He was th ...
, a people that were identified as "người Việt Nam" accounted for nearly 80 percent of the country's population. This demographic model continues to persist through the
French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...
, Japanese occupation and modern day. Between 1862 and 1867, the southern third of the country became the French colony of Cochinchina. By 1884, the entire country had come under French rule, with the central and northern parts of Vietnam separated into the two protectorates of Annam and
Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...
. The three Vietnamese entities were formally integrated into the union of
French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...
in 1887. The French administration imposed significant political and cultural changes on Vietnamese society. A Western-style system of modern education introduced new
humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
values into Vietnam. Despite having a long recorded ethnic history, the formation of the ethnic Vietnamese or Kinh identity, only begun by the late 19th and early 20th century, with the help of the colonial administration. Following the colonial government's efforts of ethnic classification, nationalism, especially
ethnonationalism Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnostate/ethnocratic) approach to variou ...
and eugenic
social Darwinism Charles Darwin, after whom social Darwinism is named Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economi ...
, were encouraged among the new Vietnamese intelligentsia's discourse. Ethnic tensions sparked by Vietnamese ethnonationalism peaked during the late 1940s at the beginning phase of the
First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...
(1946–1954), which resulted in violence between Khmer and Vietnamese in the
Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...
. The mid-20th century marked a pivotal turning point with the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, a conflict that not only left an indelible impact on the nation but also had far-reaching consequences for the Vietnamese people. The war, which lasted from 1955 to 1975, resulted in significant social, economic, and political upheavals, shaping the modern history of Vietnam and its people. Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the post-war era brought economic hardships and strained social dynamics, prompting resilient efforts at reconstruction, reconciliation, and the implementation of economic reforms such as the
Đổi Mới (; ) is the name given to the economic reforms process of Vietnam since late 1986 with the goal of creating a " socialist-oriented market economy". The term itself is a general term with wide use in the Vietnamese language meaning "innovate" ...
policies in the late 20th century.


Genetics

Several studies show close genetic affinities between Kinh Vietnamese and Thais although other studies show closer affinities with Tai-Kadai peoples. Overall, the Kinh predominantly have southern Chinese ancestry, which is closely related to
Lingnan Lingnan (; ) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern China, Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong & Macau and Northern Vietnam. Background The ar ...
Han, but also have minor genetic contributions from Laotians, Malays (i.e.
Proto-Malay The term Proto-Malay, primeval Malays, proto-Hesperonesians, first-wave Hesperonesians or primeval Hesperonesians, which translates to ''Melayu Asli'' (aboriginal Malay) or ''Melayu Purba'' (ancient Malay) or ''Melayu Tua'' (old Malay), refers ...
,
Negrito The term ''Negrito'' (; ) refers to several diverse ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands. Populations often described as Negrito include: the Andamanese peoples (including the Great Andamanese, th ...
, and Bidayut) and Thais (i.e. Mlabri and H’tin). Gene flow between Khmers and Kinh is undirectional with more evidence of Vietnamese contributing to the Khmer genome than vice versa. Likewise, there is no evidence of Chams contributing to the Kinh genome from the Nam Tiến conquests. However, Kinh share mtDNA haplotypes with Chams, originating from intermarriages between well-assimilated Kinh and Chams in the preceding Champa state. The Kinh also possess 'genetic characteristics of the
Baiyue The Baiyue, Hundred Yue, or simply Yue, were various ethnic groups who inhabited the regions of southern China and northern Vietnam during the 1st millennium BC and 1st millennium AD. They were known for their short hair, body tattoos, fine swo ...
lineage', similar to other Tai-Kadai-speaking Baiyue populations in mainland China. In particular, they cluster with Longli Bouyei and
Qiandongnan Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture ( zh, s=黔东南苗族侗族自治州 , p=Qiándōngnán Miáozú Dòngzú Zìzhìzhōu; Hmu language: ; Kam language: ), also known as Southeast Qian Autonomous Prefecture of Miao and Dong and sh ...
Dong, who could be described as a good representative of the 'ancestral Tai-Kadai' population. These populations also cluster with Iron Age Taiwanese populations (e.g. Gongguan, Hanben) and Neolithic to Bronze Age Fujianese populations (e.g. Xitoucun, Tanshishan). There is also evidence that the Kinh diverged from the Hlai, who have the most enriched Baiyue ancestry among Tai-Kadai groups, much earlier than the Dai diverged from Hlai. Overall, majority of Vietnamese belong to maternal haplogroups M (39%) and N (61%). In particular, M's subhaplogroup of M7 (20%) and N's subhaplogroups of R9’F (27%) and haplogroup B (25%) are common. In northern Vietnam, haplogroups, A, B4, F1a and G are common.Haplogroups A and C are particularly common in northwest Vietnam, with haplogroups M and M7 peaking in northeast Vietnam and settlements near the
Gulf of Tonkin The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin ( northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern co ...
. Haplogroup M71 also peaks in central Vietnam. In contrast, haplogroups M and M7 are quite rare for northwest Vietnam and far south Vietnam, near the Mekong Delta. In southern Vietnam, haplogroups D (9%) and N peak (67%) and to an extent, R9'F (29%). R9'F is instead more common in the Red River Delta (32-36%), followed by central (21%) and northwest Vietnam (16%). Meanwhile, common paternal haplogroups for Vietnamese are O1a1a2, O1b1a1a and N4-F2930.


Religions

According to the 2019 census, the religious demographics of Vietnam are as follows: *86.32%
Vietnamese folk religion Vietnamese folk religion () or Đạo Lương (道良) is a group of spiritual beliefs and practices adhered to by the Vietnamese people. About 86% of the population in Vietnam are reported irreligion, irreligious, but are associated with this t ...
or unaffiliated *6.1%
Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
*4.79%
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
(mainly
Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
) *1.02% Hoahaoism *1%
Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
*<1%
Caodaism Caodaism (; ; ; ) or Cao Đài is a Vietnamese Monotheism, monotheistic Religious syncretism, syncretic religion that retains many elements from Vietnamese folk religion such as Veneration of the dead, ancestor worship, as well as "ethical prec ...
*0.77 Others It is worth noting here that the data is highly skewed, as a large majority of Vietnamese may be unaffiliated with any religion, yet practice forms of traditional folk religion or Mahayana Buddhism. Vietnamese folk religion is not an organized religious system, but a set of local worship traditions devoted to the "thần", a term which can be translated as "spirits", "Gods" or with the more exhaustive locution "generative powers". These Gods can be nature deities or
national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
, community or kinship
tutelary deities A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...
or ancestral Gods and the ancestral Gods of a specific family. Ancestral Gods are often deified heroic persons.
Vietnamese mythology Vietnamese mythology () comprises folklore, national myths, legends, or fairy tales from the Vietnamese people with aspects of folk religion in Vietnam. Vietnamese folklore and oral traditions may have also been influenced by historical conta ...
preserves narratives telling of the actions of many of the cosmic Gods and cultural heroes. Estimates for the year 2010 published by the Pew–Templeton Global Religious Futures Project: *Vietnamese folk religion, 45.3% *Unaffiliated, 29.6% *Buddhism, 16.4% *Christianity, 8.2% *Other, 0.5%


Diaspora

Originally from northern Vietnam and southern China, the Vietnamese have expanded south and conquered much of the land belonging to the former
Champa Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...
Kingdom and
Khmer Empire The Khmer Empire was an empire in Southeast Asia, centered on Hydraulic empire, hydraulic cities in what is now northern Cambodia. Known as Kambuja (; ) by its inhabitants, it grew out of the former civilization of Chenla and lasted from 802 t ...
over the centuries. They are the dominant ethnic group in most provinces of Vietnam, and constitute a small percentage of the population in neighbouring
Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
. According to a 2020 study, Kinh Vietnamese mostly reside in the lowlands of Vietnam. Beginning around the sixteenth century, groups of Vietnamese migrated to Cambodia and China for commerce and political purposes. Descendants of Vietnamese migrants in China form the
Gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands ...
ethnic group in the country and primarily reside in and around
Guangxi Province Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, and Quảng Ninh Provinces) and the ...
. Vietnamese form the largest ethnic minority group in Cambodia, at 5% of the population. Under the
Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...
, they were heavily persecuted and survivors of the regime largely fled to Vietnam. During
French colonialism The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates, and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French colonial empire", that ex ...
, Vietnam was regarded as the most important colony in Asia by the French colonial powers, and the Vietnamese had a higher social standing than other ethnic groups in French Indochina. As a result, educated Vietnamese were often trained to be placed in colonial government positions in the other Asian French colonies of Laos and Cambodia rather than locals of the respective colonies. There was also a significant representation of Vietnamese students in France during this period, primarily consisting of members of the elite class. A large number of Vietnamese also migrated to France as workers, especially during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, when France recruited soldiers and locals of its colonies to help with war efforts in metropolitan France. The wave of migrants to France during World War I formed the first major presence of the Vietnamese in France and the Western world.La Diaspora Vietnamienne en France un cas particulier
(in French)
When Vietnam gained its independence from France in 1954, a number of Vietnamese loyal to the colonial government also migrated to France. During the partition of Vietnam into
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
and
South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
, a number of South Vietnamese students also arrived to study in France, along with individuals involved in commerce for trade with France, which was a principal economic partner with South Vietnam. Forced repatriation in 1970 and deaths during the
Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...
era reduced the
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...
population in
Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
from between 250,000 and 300,000 in 1969 to a reported 56,000 in 1984. The
fall of Saigon The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...
and end of the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
prompted the start of the Vietnamese diaspora, which saw millions of Vietnamese fleeing the country from the new communist regime. Recognizing an international humanitarian crisis, many countries accepted Vietnamese
refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
, primarily the United States, France, Australia and Canada. Meanwhile, under the new communist regime, tens of thousands of Vietnamese were sent to work or study in
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
countries of Central and
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
as development aid to the Vietnamese government and for migrants to acquire skills that were to be brought home to help with development.


See also


Notes


References


Bibliography


Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Journal articles and theses

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Web sources

* * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * *Cœdès, George. (1966)
''The Making of South East Asia''
(illustrated, reprint ed.). University of California Press. . Retrieved 7 August 2013. * * * * * *Hall, Kenneth R., ed. (2008)
''Secondary Cities and Urban Networking in the Indian Ocean Realm, C. 1400–1800''
Volume 1 of Comparative urban studies. Lexington Books. . Retrieved 7 August 2013. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vietnamese People Ethnic groups in Vietnam